Headlines

German inflation slowed markedly — and more than expected — in October as Europe’s biggest economy struggles to grow, Bloomberg News reported. At 3%, price pressures are the weakest since June 2021, the statistics office said Monday. Economists had predicted a moderation to 3.3%. The result underpins the European Central Bank’s argument that a record bout of interest-rate increases is starting to show its effects. A sharp retreat is also expected in Italy and, to a lesser extent, in France and in the 20-nation euro zone, with data due Tuesday.

Sweden’s economy was stagnant last quarter, as rising borrowing costs and growing unemployment hurt spending in the Nordic region’s largest country, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product, adjusted for seasonal swings, was unchanged in the third quarter from the previous three-month period, according to preliminary data published by Statistics Sweden on Monday. The development was weaker than expected by economists, who had penciled in growth of 0.3%, following a slump in the second quarter.

Spanish inflation accelerated for a fourth month, hitting the highest level since April and supporting calls to prolong government measures to shield households from the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, Bloomberg News reported. October’s reading of 3.5% was largely due to electricity costs, the national statistics institute said Monday. That compares with 3.3% a month earlier and is less than the 3.8% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. A measure of underlying pressures that excludes energy and fresh-food costs slowed to 5.2%.

South Korean banking stocks slumped after President Yoon Suk Yeol expressed sympathy for the country’s mom-and-pop business owners suffering from high interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. During Monday’s cabinet meeting, Yoon introduced comments from small business owners, who likened themselves to “slaves” for banks as they spend most of their earnings in repaying loans. The remarks came at a time when sentiment toward the sector was already weak following a late Sunday report on potential windfall charges on lenders’ excess profit.

European Union officials voiced their shock after Australia’s top negotiator pushed back from a potential trade deal with the 27-nation bloc for the second time in a matter of months, Bloomberg News reported. Despite optimism ahead of planned discussions in Osaka, Japan, the two sides were never actually able to sit down to make a final breakthrough over the weekend.

Australia's red-hot rental housing market, supercharged by record migration and a chronic supply shortage, could be reaching a breaking point for affordability as tenants grapple with rising costs of living, Reuters reported. Nationwide vacancies are at all-time lows and prices are up 30% over three years. Rent is now one of the country's biggest drivers of inflation, which at an annual rate of 5.4% in the September quarter is well above the central banks' targeted band of 2% to 3% and could lead to further interest rate hikes as early as next week.

Bolivia's economy grew by 2.21% in the second quarter of this year compared to a year earlier, the country's planning ministry said on Friday, boosted by a growth in internal demand, Reuters reported. Growth was led by the South American country's services, electricity, gas and water, financial establishments and construction sectors, the ministry said in a report. "Bolivia maintains a sustained economic growth above the South American average," Planning Minister Sergio Cusicanqui said. The government forecasts annual growth of 4.86% this year.

Russia’s Central Bank on Friday raised its key interest rate by two percentage points to 15 percent, a bigger increase than expected as the bank said it was trying to bring down stubbornly high inflation, the New York Times reported. The central bank, which said the annual inflation rate would range from 7 to 7.5 percent this year, predicted a long period of “tight monetary conditions” in order to bring the rate down close to its target of 4 percent.

Cracks are deepening for vulnerable emerging-market companies as global borrowing rates surge to the highest levels since the financial crisis, halting refinancing opportunities for $400 billion worth of debt maturities coming due in the new year, Bloomberg News reported. As US Treasury yields soar to 15-year highs and borrowing costs skyrocket, companies from developing nations have managed to only rollover a tenth of what they need.

A sluggish Chinese economy is causing distress to pop up in unexpected corners of Europe’s junk credit markets, with companies pushed into debt restructurings due to events happening far away, Bloomberg News reported. Take Wittur Holding GmbH, a German maker of elevator components: Its revenue plunged after a real estate bubble burst in China, one of its main markets. As construction of new buildings all but stopped, demand dried up.